I am a Burmese exile taking a near-permanent refuge in New York and Sydney. Here are my essays about Burma and anything else I feel like writing about. And posting the articles I like from selected sites. Bridging Burma to the world this Blog is more of a Politically-Oriented Literary Blog than a Plain News Blog or a Sophisticated Thoughts Blog.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Australian Navy Turning Muslim-Boats Back To Indonesia

Over the past month, the Australian
navy has forced or towed at least two asylum seeker vessels back to Indonesia
under the Abbott government’s so-called “turn back the boats” program. These
highly dangerous operations, which could have led to the loss of lives, have
also heightened tensions with the Indonesian government, which has publicly
opposed the practice.

The policy was introduced last
September by Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s government after an election in which
his Liberal-National Coalition sought to outdo the Labor Party in a bipartisan
bidding war to adopt the most draconian anti-refugee policy. Both parties
declared their determination to “stop the boats,” effectively tearing up the
international Refugee Convention, which recognises a basic right to flee
persecution.

Intent on keeping its operations
totally secret from the Australian people, the government has refused to even
confirm that the two boats were forced back, let alone provide any details of
the methods used. But according to Indonesian police, a refugee boat ran
aground on Indonesia’s Rote Island, about 500 kilometres northwest of
Australia, on December 19 after being turned back. The vessel was carrying 47
people fleeing war-torn areas of Africa and the Middle East.

Muslim-Boats Intercepted and Towed Back into Indonesia Waters

Australian Navy men boarding a Muslim-boat.

Interviewed by the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation, passengers said they were intercepted on December 10.
After three days of waiting, they were towed back toward Indonesia. Falsely
told they were headed for Australia’s Christmas Island, they were later dumped
and left to fend for themselves. The boat ran out of fuel shortly afterward and
drifted before beaching on Rote.

A second boat carrying 45 refugees was
discovered on Rote’s shore this week after being turned back on New Year’s Day.
A disaster was only narrowly averted. Rote police chief Hidayat told the
Fairfax Media: “They were rescued by the locals, because the boat engines were
dead. The boat now is wreckage, near some reefs.”

One of the refugees on board, Yusuf, told the media that the navy towed
their vessel back toward Indonesia, after threatening the crew and passengers
and also claiming they were being taken to Christmas Island. Asylum seekers who
resisted were handcuffed and assaulted. “Some of our people, they jump in the
water as a protest,” he said. The boat was later cut adrift in rough seas in
the middle of the night near Rote.

These incidents raise the obvious
question: have other boats have been lost at sea as a result of the
government’s policy? The fate of these two vessels only became known because
they were reported by the local police on Rote.

In response to the revelations, Abbott
yesterday vowed to continue to do “whatever is necessary” to “stop the boats.”
The Fairfax Media reported that the government had purchased oceangoing
lifeboats in which to send back refugees whose boats were unseaworthy. Such a
practice will only compound the likelihood of greater refugee disasters, with
both Canberra and Jakarta washing their hands of the perils confronting asylum
seekers, including women and children, set adrift on the high seas in
lifeboats.

Already, over the past 12
years—beginning with the October 2001 SIEV X tragedy, in which 353 refugees
drowned—many hundreds have perished in the waters between Indonesia and
Australia. Successive governments in Canberra have refused to take any
responsibility for the rescue of people seeking asylum in Australia, instead
regarding deaths as useful deterrents to discourage refugees.

Australia’s Hardline Stance of Turning Back The Muslim-Boats

Abbott described the turn-back policy
as “absolutely non-negotiable,” dismissing criticism from Indonesian Foreign
Minister Marty Natalegawa, who restated Jakarta’s longstanding public
opposition to it. “I shall repeat this once again: Indonesia rejects and is
against the policy of boat turnbacks because it’s not a solution,” Natalegawa told
the media.

Night transfer of rescued-Muslims at high sea.

Abbott claimed that his government had
no intention to “in any way trespass on Indonesia’s sovereignty,” but
Indonesia’s Antara news service quoted a refugee who said one Australian ship
travelled seven miles into Indonesian territory on December 13 before releasing
his boat, which it was towing.

Last November, the Indonesian
government refused to allow a refugee vessel to be pushed back, forcing the
Abbott government to accept the boat after a two-day standoff that left asylum
seekers dangerously stranded at sea.

The conflict over refugees has
exacerbated the tensions that erupted two months ago after documents leaked by
former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed details
of extensive US-Australian spying operations in Indonesia, including the
bugging of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s phone calls. Amid public
outrage in Indonesia, Yudhoyono suspended cooperation with Australia on
intercepting refugee boats, as well as intelligence exchanges and military
exercises.

In reiterating Indonesia’s rejection of
the turning back of boats, Natalegawa said restoring relations would take some
time, despite him holding intensive discussions with Australian Foreign
Minister Julie Bishop in a bid to resolve the diplomatic crisis.

Nevertheless, Abbott yesterday declared
that relations between the two countries were “very strong.” He pointed to
comments by Indonesia’s military commander, General Moeldoko, who told the
Jakarta Post that Australian Defence Force chief, General David Hurley, had
phoned him to say that “Indonesia should understand if Australia drove back
undocumented migrants.” Moeldoko was reported as saying: “I have agreed.
Therefore, we don’t need to feel offended.”

Last night, however, Yudhoyono’s office
backed his foreign minister’s rejection of Australia policy, saying turning
boats back to Indonesia was “unhelpful.” General Moeldoko said he had been
misreported in the media.

Mahfudz Siddiq, head of the Indonesian
parliament’s foreign affairs committee, warned that relations could worsen if
Australia’s “provocative” action in sending back two boats was followed by the
use of lifeboats. “This of course would not be accepted by Indonesian military,
because it has been a defence issue and breaching water territory sovereignty,”
he said.

“The situation is not helpful. It will
get worse for our bilateral relations,” he told the Fairfax Media. “Unless the
situation is handled soon, I fear it will deteriorate further after the spying
affair and the end of our military co-operation.”